More than Just Surviving
Good Morning,
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Ps 40:2
This verse has always given me a wonderful picture in my mind. The picture of a person slipping and sliding into a hole and being miraculously lifted up and planted on a huge, unmovable rock. It is the kind of foundation that Christ followers find when they make the choice to go all in with God. A foundation unshaken by the circumstances of life; one that will not crumble under the pressure.
Recently, I was reading this passage and something else struck me that I hadn’t noticed before. Part of my picture, and perhaps your picture, is that of a weary, panic-stricken soul clinging to that rock hoping to somehow make it. But what I discovered in verse 3 presents a much different picture. Consider these words: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.”
What hit me was that God doesn’t just leave us on a rock, that while secure, still leaves us in a state of panic and angst. He replaces those feelings with a new sense of hope and expectancy. He does such a profound work in our hearts and minds that our spirits are able to see beyond the circumstances and praise God in the midst of them. Somehow, planted on a divinely supplied rock, surrounded by the mud and mire of life, our gracious God gives us a glimpse of Himself and in so doing changes the very tenor of our souls.
If you read on, we see this happens through remembering God’s mercies, His faithfulness, the wonders of His creation, and the fact that God knows us intimately down to the very hairs on our head. The Psalmist reminds us that God is never absent, never in over his head, and never lacking. And remembering all that brings a divine sense of peace and stability not found elsewhere. Beyond that, others will observe what is happening and be led to put their hope in God as well.
Too often, we don’t aim high enough. The best we hope for is to just make it from day to day. We never look for, or experience joy in the journey. I am so grateful that we serve a God who wants us to do more than just survive. He wants us to live with a sense of awe and wonder fueled by Him. No matter what each day brings we can live with a new song in our mouth and hymn of praise in our hearts.
We can do more than just survive on the rock. We can experience something far more wonderful. Something that others will notice and desire.
Live on purpose,
Ron Klopfenstein
